Many industries have encountered a need for transporting perishable materials or materials which are temperature sensitive. One such industry is the medical field which may require a transportation of small quantities of temperature sensitive material, such as organs or blood, between two distant locations. A conventional container having a large and bulky self-contained refrigeration unit that provides environmental and temperature control is not efficient in transporting small quantities of material. Additionally, containers having self-contained refrigeration units are expensive. The containers having self-contained refrigeration units are generally only employed when shipping large quantities of temperature sensitive materials.
The materials being shipped must also be protected from violent impacts and rough handling that often occurs during shipping. Accordingly, a shipping container must also be of sound structural integrity to protect the valuable and often life saving cargo. Additionally, sometimes during shipping, containers are punctured by various objects. Thus, it is also important for the container to protect the cargo from punctures.
Accordingly, over the years, there has developed a need for a space and economically efficient container that can substantially maintain a temperature so that a small quantity of temperature sensitive material can be transported between two distant locations.
A container is disclosed in Malone et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,970. This patent discloses an insulating system to retrofit a conventional uninsulated container, having multiple insulating panels, with each panel having a plurality of foam strips attached to the walls of the container. Each foam strip does not span across the entire surface of the wall. Rather, the plurality of strips are spaced out across the surface of the wall. An insulated blanket is affixed to the strips. Because the insulated blanket is supported off from the surface of the wall by the foam strips, an air compartment is created between the insulated blanket and the wall. The insulated blanket is comprised of a plurality of separate closed air cells. Because the foam strips do not extend all the way across the surface of the walls, the air trapped between the blanket and the wall is allowed to flow freely from one end of the panel to the other, thus, providing little protection against heat transfer along the surface of the wall.
Malone, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,245 discloses an insulating retrofitting system related to the system disclosed in Malone, U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,970.
Others have also attempted to develop efficient insulated shipping containers, such as the ones disclosed in: Nelson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,557; Guillon et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,913; Hauk, U.S. Pat. No. 4,796,758; Markus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,943; Ericson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,228; Vilutis, U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,240; and, Wischusen, III et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,309.
None of these patents adequately solve the problem of providing a reusable insulating panel for a shipping container or an insulated shipping container that permits temperature sensitive materials to be shipped between two distant locations without the need of external refrigeration. Additionally, none of these patents disclose a reusable insulated shipping container which is capable of withstanding rough handling by a courier or the possibility of puncturing of the exterior container without damaging the cargo. In particular, none of the patents disclose an insulating panel for a shipping container which has a plurality of independent dead air compartments which extend across the entire surface of a panel, not allowing convection between the plurality of dead air compartments.